“Maggie,” I state, my voice deep in warning. “Stop worrying about Sterling and live in this moment. We are in the middle of a hot spring, surrounded by rocks and mountains and snow and nature and…life. Your ex should be the last thing on your mind. You should be taking this all in.”

“I am taking it all in,” she snaps back defensively.

“But are you? Are you really?” I stare deep into her eyes, not in judgment but in understanding. “I know you have a plan, but sometimes plans need to be forgotten so you don’t miss out on life.”

“Life? Like right now? With you?” she says the words slowly like each one is a sweet she’s tasting for the first time.

“Hell, maybe,” I reply, my voice growing deeper from the darkened look in her eye. “You seem busy living for a fictional future. Maybe it’s time to stop turning the pages for a bit.”

The corners of her lips twitch as she watches me for a breath. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips as she pulls her bottom one in with her teeth. She turns around to prop her arms on the rocks, her eyes taking in the scenery all around us. She exhales heavily and then turns to sit on her knees in front of me.

My eyes take in that luscious body of hers, curvy in all the right places and smooth like velvet.

Leaning in until her face is only inches from mine, she says, “Kiss me, Sam.”

“What?” I ask with a laugh and pull away from her, assuming this must be her idea of a joke.

She bites her lip and narrows her eyes with determination. “Kiss me.”

“What are you doing?” I shift nervously in the water to put more space between us. I swear to God, the temperature of the water has just risen ten degrees.

Lifting her shoulders, she replies, “I’m living life in the moment.”

“But you want your ex back.” A fact she shouldn’t need to be reminded of.

“I do…someday.” Her eyes wander down to my chest. “But he’s not here tonight. And you’re a short-term kind of guy, and I’m a temporarily single girl. So why don’t we live in the moment right now…together?”

“You don’t want this,” I reply with a shake of the head, gulping down the contents of my glass in one swig. I set it down and hoist myself up on the edge of the rocks, needing some cool air to clear my head.

“I think I do,” she replies, lifting her brows at me. “I know I do. I’ve wanted it since the day we met.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true. Why do you think I threw myself at you in your fishing hut, Sam?”

My body roars to life at that memory, of her body close to mine, of feeling her in my arms and tasting her perfect lips. Maggie could kiss. Even in her haste, she knew how to kiss.

Maggie moves closer to me like a tentative cub tracking its first prey. She kneels between my legs, and I tense when she runs her hands up the outside of my calves. “You’re a good guy, Sam. You may not be a long-term kind of guy, but that’s not what I’m looking for from you anyway.”

Her hands roll over my quads, shooting a zinger right up my groin to my cock. I reach down and grip her hands harshly to stop their movement. “What are you looking for exactly, Maggie? Be very fucking specific.”

Her long black lashes are wet from the steam as she looks up at me and quirks her brow as she replies. “I’m asking for no-strings fucking.”

“Jesus Christ,” I growl and have to force myself to look away from her. She looks way too fucking hot right now in that little black bikini, her breasts pressing together from the position of her hands on my thighs, and her blue eyes wide and innocent. My dick develops its own heartbeat as it presses into my board shorts.

How did this evening turn into Maggie seducing me? I’m fucking nine years older than her, for God’s sake. I should be the one seducing her. But all of a sudden, she’s the alluring bait dangling right in front of me, and I’m a fish who hasn’t eaten in weeks.
I look at her with pleading eyes. “Your brother will kill me.”

She smiles a sexy smile, that dimple in her cheek ever present. “Miles doesn’t need to know about my sex life.”

Amy Daws is an Amazon Top 25 bestselling author of sexy,
contemporary romance novels. She enjoys writing love stories that take place in America, as well as across the pond in England; especially about those footy-playing Harris Brothers of hers. When Amy is not writing in a tire shop waiting room, she’s watching Gilmore Girls, or singing karaoke in the living room with her daughter while Daddy smiles awkwardly from a distance. For more of Amy’s work, visit: http://www.amydawsauthor.com

Bekka and I have pretty similar taste in books, and often compare notes while reading the same ones. When we discovered that we were both planning on reading Christina Lauren’s newest release, “Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating,” we decided that we should each write a review for the blog!

If you’re not familiar with this author, Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. They have written a couple of different series together, as well as several standalones. With the exception of their very first book, Beautiful Bastard, I have really enjoyed every single one of their books. I will even go so far as to say that they have ruined me for other authors! It is very rare for me to give another author’s work 5 stars, because most of the other books I read can’t live up to the wonderful stories written by these two ladies.

That being said, I only gave Josh and Hazel four stars. It is a best friends to lovers romance, which I love. It’s very funny and witty and clever, which is true of all of their books. I loved the zaniness of Hazel, and the way she adores her best friend, the straight-laced Josh. I liked the premise, where they want to help the other find their “person,” so they each choose someone they think the other would like, and go on double dates together. Of course, things do not go as planned, and with each disastrous date, we readers just want to shout at them, “Can’t you see you’re falling in love with each other?!?!” While I did enjoy this book, it lacked the emotional punch of Roomies, Beautiful Player, or my very favorite, Love and Other Words, (a book I still haven’t written a review for because it left me so emotionally drained!)

Bekka’s Review

Beth said “all the things”. These authors have raised the bar on romance reads. First things first, here are my impressions of “Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating”.

I gave it 3 stars. I know, I know. I enjoyed the writing, it was so clever at times, and very very entertaining. The ebb and flow of the story line, and the seamless progression to where these two main characters end up was applaudable (I think I made that word up). She finds a guy who she considers perfect and compares all other men to. Josh who is the Yin to her Yang creates a playful and satisfying story. They become good friends and as entertainment, set each other up on double blind dates. You can always feel the undercurrent of where this was going and you root for them the whole way. Why 3 stars? There is something about when a main character is messy and very free sprited that doesn’t grab me 100%. I know its a personal preference – I most enjoy when I can connect to a main female character, with this one, I liked her, she had LOTS of “character” but I didn’t feel that personal connection. I definitely recommend it because it is an entertaining and enjoyable read.

Back to the writing duo of Christina and Lauren. My counterpart Beth gives me great recommendations for reads. The day she told me to stop everything and read “Love and Other Words” changed my lens on Romance novels. It pulled on my heart, and really had me connected. Truly, one of the best I’ve read in a long time. “Roomies” was a nice surprise, not at all what I was anticipating. I will continue to read and post about works from this great duo.

I love Melissa Foster’s books! She had me at Treat Braden! I loved the Love in Bloom Series and now made my way through her newest Sugar Lake books. I can’t wait for Book 3!! These characters are so wonderful and the stories keep you turning pages. I was rooting for them the whole way! I need more!